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Voici le char où les clowns dansent.

Voici le char où les clowns dansent.
Here is the float where the clowns dance.
From Lesson 125:Relative pronouns of place and time (où)·French

Questions & Answers about Voici le char où les clowns dansent.

Why do we use où here instead of que or qui?
The word où is a relative pronoun used to talk about places and times. Since le char (the parade float) is the physical location where the action is happening, we use où (where) to link the two halves of the sentence.
Wait, doesn't char mean "car" or "tank"?
It depends on where you are! In standard European French, a car is une voiture, but in Canadian French, it is often called un char. In standard French, un char can mean a military tank or an ancient chariot, but in the context of a parade with clowns, it means a parade float.
Why does dansent end in -ent?
The word dansent is the "they" form of the regular verb danser (to dance). Because les clowns is plural (they), we must use the -ent ending. Remember that this -ent verb ending is completely silent in French!
Is clowns just an English word?
Yes, it is a loanword borrowed directly from English. It is spelled the exact same way and takes an -s in the plural, but the French pronounce it a bit differently, sounding more like "kloon".

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